The Light in the Darkness
by bright eyed writer
Summary: Eventually 10/OC Time Lady - The TARDIS, tired of Rose's attempts to look into her heart and save the Doctor, decides to take matters into her own hands. How will the Doctor and Rose react when a woman suddenly appears in the TARDIS?
1. Time Vortex and Regeneration

AN - Hi :) Okay, I recently found myself obsessed with OC Time Lady stories and decided to try one out for myself. A few warnings before your start reading - this will eventually be a Doctor/OC fic so the Doctor won't be ending up with Rose or River. Rose isn't going to be very pleasant during this story, mainly because I think by the end of the first series she _was _in love with the Doctor and wouldn't take an appearance from another woman very well (like with Sarah Jane). And before any of you think I hate Rose because of the way I portray her, you couldn't be more wrong since I am actually a fan of Rose - so this is completely new to me.

Disclaimer: I do not own Doctor Who (unfortunately)

This starts right after Rose ran out of the chip shop, just before she realises she can get back. Hope you enjoy it :)

...

Rose finally stopped running when she arrived in a car park, close to the estate and, thankfully, even closer to the TARDIS. She broke down in tears as she sat on the bench, unable to hold them away any longer. How could her mum and Mickey expect her to just get on with her life while the Doctor is out there fighting? She couldn't do that. She needed to be with him, even if it meant that she died with him. She would be willing to make that sacrafice, for him.

And she hated feeling so useless stuck on Earth.

She looked to her left to see Mickey walking over to her, so she quickly wiped away her tears and pointedly stared in the opposite direction.

Mickey came to a stop right next to her. "You can't spend the rest of your life thinking about the Doctor." He told her.

"But how do I forget him?" she repied quietly.

"You've got to start living your own life. You know, a proper life, like the kind he's never had. The sort of life you could have with me." Mickey tried but Rose's attention had already wandered somewhere else. It was those words again, the same words that kept coming up all the time.

She stared in astonishment at the words 'BAD WOLF' that had been spray painted on the floor in huge letters. Rose stood up and walked over to them before looking around, seeing the words written all over the walls aswell.

"Over there. It's over there aswell!" Rose said, starting to get excited as she ran over to the wall.

Mickey followed, extremely confused. "That's been there for years! It's just a phrase! It's just words!"  
"I thought it was a warning... maybe it's the opposite. Maybe it's a message. The same words written down now and two hundred thousand years in the future." A huge smile spread across Rose's face as she spoke. "It's a link between me and the Doctor! Bad Wolf here... Bad Wolf there!"

"But if it's a message, what's it saying?" Mickey asked, trying to understand but Rose was already running in the direction of the TARDIS.

"It's telling me I can get back!" Rose called over her shoulder at him. "The least I can do is help him escape!"

Mickey sighed heavily before running after her. When he finally made it to the TARDIS, Rose was stood at the console, looking the happiest he'd ever seen her.

"How do you expect to get back if neither of us can drive the TARDIS?" Mickey asked.

"All the TARDIS needs to do is make a return trip." Rose insisted. "Just... reverse."  
"Yeah, but we still can't do it."  
"The Doctor always said the TARDIS is telepathic. This thing is alive. It can't listen."  
Mickey frowned. If it can listen why hadn't it helped already? "It's not listening now, is it?"  
Rose just shook her head dismissively, she didn't want to hear his negativity. Especially now when she knew she had a chance to save the Doctor. "We need to get inside it. Last time I saw you, with the Slitheen, this middle bit opened," Rose explained, patting the part of the console she was stood in front of. "And there was this light... and the Doctor said it was the heart of the TARDIS. If we can open it, we can make contact. I can tell it what to do!"  
Mickey could see that he wasn't getting through to her but he had to keep trying. He didn't want to loose her. "Rose..."  
"Mmm?"

"If you go back, you're going to die." He told her quietly.

"That's a risk I've got to take." She said confidently. "'Cos there's nothing left for me here."

"Nothing?"  
"No." Rose said firmly, avoiding his eyes.

Mickey flinched. He'd already guessed but to have it confirmed hurt alot. Trying to maintain as much dignity as he could, he said, "Okay, if that's what you think... let's get this thing open."

...

Rose silently prayed for this to work, as she watched the chain attatched to the console strain as it was pulled. "Faster!" Rose called out to Mickey over the loud screeching of his car. The console refused to budge. "It's not moving!" She chewed her lip as the chain shuddered... and snapped.

She let out a yell of frustration, kicking the console before slumping into the pilot seat. So much for the great plan, she thought to herself bitterly.

She stayed that way for a while, just staring at the console in her own little world. She didn't even notice her mother standing in front of her until she spoke.

"It was never going to work sweetheart." Jackie said softly. "And the Doctor knew that. He just wanted you to be safe."  
"I can't give up." Rose insisted once again.

"Lock the door, walk away."  
"Dad wouldn't give up." Rose threw at her. Jackie took a step back, looking like she'd just been slapped. She took a moment to compose herself before speaking.

"Well, he's not here, is he?" she whispered as Rose stared at her. "And even if he was, he'd say the same."  
"No he wouldn't." Rose protested. "He'd tell me to try anything. If I could save the Doctor's life... try anything."

"Well, we're never gonna know." Jackie shrugged, trying to hide how much pain she was feeling just by talking about her husband, hoping Rose would drop the subject.

"Well, I know." Rose said, hesitating for only a moment before adding on. "Because I've met him."

Jackie's head snapped up to look at her. "Don't be ridiculous."

Rose sat up straighter, looking Jackie in the eye. "The Doctor took me back in time, and I met Dad."

"Don't say that." Jackie pleaded, shaking her head in disbelief.

"Remember when dad died? There was someone with him." Rose said, her voice beginning to crack as she tried to stop herself from crying. "There was a girl. A blonde girl. She held his hand..." Jackie just stared at her and Rose began to get frustrated. "You saw her from a distance, mum! You saw her! Think about it! That was me. You saw me - "  
"Stop it." Jackie said abruptly.

"That's how good to Doctor is - "  
"Stop it! Just stop it!" Jackie shouted, before turning to run out of the TARDIS leaving Rose alone, sobbing. As soon as Jackie was out, the door slammed shut, making both Tyler women jump.

"Rose?!" Jackie called through the door, banging on it with all her might. "Rose, what's going on?! What's it doing?!"

Rose jumped to her feet, her excitement from before starting to build up again. She had told Mickey that the TARDIS could listen, had the TARDIS realised what they were trying to do? Was it trying to get them back to the Doctor?

The console that Mickey and Rose had spent the last few hours trying to get off fell to the floor easily, the light from the heart of the TARDIS filling the room. Rose laughed happily, almost skipping in delight... but she stopped dead when she had a chance to actually look at the console. A figure had appeared, standing in front of the console, slowly becoming more solid in front of her eyes until she could see that the figure was a woman.

The woman was shorter than her and appeared to be the same age, but Rose couldn't make out most of her features because of the light so she couldn't decide whether she was beautiful or not. But the thing that stood out to Rose the most was the woman's eyes. They were gold and as bright as the heart of the TARDIS.

...

"It's ready!" The Doctor exclaimed to himself happily. His happiness faded though, as Daleks filed into the floor, surrounding him. "You really wanna think about this." He told them calmly. "'Cos if I activate the signal, every living creature dies."  
"I am immortal." The Emperor Dalek bellowed, his voice echoing in the room.

The Doctor raised an eyebrow at the image of the screen. "D'you wanna put that to the test?"

"I want to see you become like me. Hail the Doctor, the Great Exterminator!" The Emperor mocked, and the Doctor's teeth clenched together as his anger built.

"I'll do it!" He threatened, putting his hands on the lever.

The Emperor wasn't fazed. "Then prove yourself, Doctor. What are you, coward or killer?"

The Doctor's hands tensed on the lever as he prepared himself to do it. He took a deep breath... and let go. He couldn't kill all of those innocent people, even if it would get rid of the Daleks.

He turned to look at the Dalek Emperor. "Coward. Any day."

"Mankind will be harvested because of your weakness."

"And what about me? Am I becoming one of your angels?" the Doctor asked sarcastically.

"You are the Heathen. You will be exterminated."

"Maybe it's time." He took a deep breath as he closed his eyes, waiting patiently for them to shoot. However, his eyes snapped back open when he heard the sound of the TARDIS engines.

"Alert! TARDIS materialising!" One of the Daleks exclaimed, as the Doctor spun around in shock. How had Rose managed to drive the TARDIS?!

Once the TARDIS had full materialised the doors flew open and a blinding light filled the room. The Doctor threw his hand in front of his face, blocking the light as he tried to see what was happening. Someone was standing in the doorway, but no one he had ever seen before. His eyes narrowed as he tried to get a better look at her.

The woman had long, dark brown hair which was blowing slightly in the gold light of the time vortex. She was extremely pale, which contrasted with the brightness of the light, and was very small. The only part of the woman - though she could be seen more as a girl - he could clearly see was her face as the rest of her body was clouded and blurred from a golden mist.

"Who are you?" he asked her confused. "What are you doing on my ship? What have you done?"  
"I was sent to help." She replied. Her voice was quiet, so much that he had to strain to hear her.

"Sent? By who?"

The woman's reply was interrupted by Rose, who squeezed past her to get the Doctor. She ran into her arms and held on tightly, not sure whether to be afraid of the Daleks or the woman.

"Rose." The Doctor breathed in relief, holding her closer to him for a moment before pulling away so that he could look at her. "Who is she?"

"I don't know. Some of the console broke off and she appeared." Rose explained quickly, refusing to let go off the Doctor completely. She kept her arms around him tightly.

The Doctor's eyes widened as he looked back at the woman. He recognised the light now, in fact he couldn't believe he hadn't realised before. "She came through the time vortex." He stated.

"This is an abomination." The Emperor boomed.

"Exterminated!" One of the Daleks shot at the woman who merely held up her hand, stopping the bolt in it's tracks before sending it straight back at the Dalek, destroying it.

The Doctor stepped towards the woman, gently removing himself from Rose's arms. "You have to stop this." He told her, looking at her intently. "It will destroy you if you don't."  
"I am here to save you only," the woman told him. "It was the only purpose I was put on this world."

The Doctor shook his head. "Don't ever say that. You could have a life." He told her, urgently hoping to get through to her, but the woman stared straight ahead.

"My purpose is to save you, and I will. I'll take the words..." she waved her hand and the words 'Bad Wolf' on the wall rose from it and floated away. "And scatter them in space and time. A warning, so that this moment will always happen."

"You've got to stop this! You've got to stop this now! You won't be able to survive, the time vortex is too strong."

The woman suddenly looked at him suddenly and both he and Rose stared. The woman's eye momentarily changed to brown, they held so much warmth that both of them felt calmer despite the whole situation.

"You _need _to be safe." She told him firmly, trying to convey how important this was before she looked back at the screen, her eyes changing back into gold. "Protected from the false God."  
"You cannot hurt me." The Emperor mocked. "I am immortal."

"You are nothing." The woman snapped, glaring at him. She raised her hand once again and, to the Doctor's and Rose's amazement, the Daleks disappeared into dust. "Everything must turn to dust... all things. Including you."

"I will not die. I cannot die!" But even as he said these words, the Emperor slowly disappeared until there was nothing left.

"Okay, now let it go." The Doctor pleaded.

"I can't. I can see everything. All of time and space. There are some things that need to stay a certain way."

The Doctor was getting more and more desperate by the minute. "What, like you dying?!"

"No, his team needs him." She replied, though no one understood what she meant.

The Doctor moved closer to her, ignoring Rose when she tried to stop him, until he was stood right in front of her. "I understand. I can see all of time too. But don't you see, if I get this out of you then you can go on. You can live a normal life."

"No I can't." She moved her arm, which became clearer and solid once it was out of the mist, to take his hand. She pulled his hand towards her, into the mist, and placed it on her chest. The Doctor's eyes widened in shock.

"No." He gasped, unable to believe what was happening. Torn between joy and agony. "You can't be." He stared at her for a moment longer before pulling his hand out of her grip and placed both of his hands on the side of her face, looking into her eyes as a smile appeared on his face. "Well, there's no way I'm going to let you die now." He told her, before moving his face closer to her until their lips met.

Rose, who had been watching in confusion, felt her heart drop as she watched them kiss. No, she thought to herself, that should be me! She stared at them, barely noticing that the light was leaving the woman through the Doctor.

When the Doctor pulled away, the woman fell to the floor unconconscious before anyone had a chance to catch her. The Doctor calmly bent down next to her as she lay on her stomach, brushing a strand of hair off her face as he smiled down at her. Rose clenched her teeth together, not only was the woman naked but the Doctor was staring at her as if she was the moment important person in the whole of creation. How had this all gone so long?

The Doctor seemed to notice the woman's lack of clothing at that exact moment because he quickly slipped out of his leather jacket and wrapped it around her. He looked down at her once more before standing, turning to the TARDIS, and he slowly exhaled. The time vortex that he had pulled out of the girl streamed out from his mouth and into the TARDIS. Finally, everything gold disappeared and the TARDIS doors closed.

The Doctor stumbled backwards slightly and Rose rushed to his side, grabbing him incase he fell. He looked at her and smile softly in thanks before moving away from her once again, bending down to pick up the woman.

Rose watched in silence even though all she wanted to do was ask all the questions that were running through her head. She followed him into the TARDIS and watched as he placed the woman onto the floor and put the TARDIS into flight. She continued to watch him as he walked around the console, lost in his own thoughts, pushing buttons here and there until she could finally no longer take the silence.

"Who is she?" she asked quietly.

He stopped and looked down at the woman again. "I don't know." He said simply, looking away quickly when he saw that she was starting to stir. Rose glared down at her before moving to sit on the pilot's seat, wanting to get as far away from the stranger as possible.

"Good morning," the Doctor said brightly as the woman looked around confused. "How're you feeling?"

The woman stared at him. "Erm... okay, I guess. What exactly happened?"  
"Don't you remember?"

"I remember that I needed to save you but... other than that I don't have a clue."

The Doctor stared at her, trying to work out who and what she was. "What's your name?" he asked, hoping that she'd have a name he'd recognise, or atleast a name he could look up.

"Lucia, I think."

"You think?"

"I can't be one hundred percent sure." She admitted, noticing Rose roll her eyes in annoyance.

The Doctor looked a little disheartened as he looked back down at console, before turning to Rose with a smile. "Rose Tyler," he said happily, making her look up at him. "I was gonna take you to so many places. Barcelona, not the city Barcelona, the planet. You'd love it. Fantastic place, they've got dogs with no noses." Rose forced a smile while Lucia, listening carefully to what was being said, laughed with the Doctor. "Imagine how many times a day you end up telling that joke, and it's still funny!"

"Then, why can't we go?" Rose asked, not really that bothered.

"Maybe you will. And maybe Lucia and I will. But not like this." The Doctor smiled. Rose frowned, both out of confusion and the fact that Lucia had been included.

"You're not making sense."

"I might never make sense again! I might have two heads. Or no head!" The Doctor laughed while Rose nodded with a bemused smile on her face and Lucia smiled sadly, knowing what was coming and blaming herself. "Imagine me with no head! And don't say that's an improvement..." His smile faded and he became serious. "But it's a bit dodgy, this process. You never know what you're gonna end up with - " He was cut off as he was propelled backwards with a blast of golden light. Rose went to rush to his side but was stopped by Lucia who was holding her back.

She pushed her away with a look of disgust on her face but before making her way to the Doctor, only to be stopped once again. "Stay away!" He yelled, clutching his stomach as though he had been punched.

Rose stopped, staring at him with wide eyes. "Doctor, tell me what's going on."  
"He absorbed all the energy of the Time Vortex. No one's supposed to do that." Lucia explained before she turned to the Doctor. "You really shouldn't have done that, I would have been fine."  
"I wasn't going to take the chance." The Doctor gasped, screwing up his eyes in pain. "Every cell in my body is dying."  
"Can't you do something?" Rose asked, looking between the Doctor and Lucia.

The Doctor smiled. "Yeah, I'm doing it now! Time Lords have this little trick, it's... sort of a way of cheating death. Except..." he looked her in the eye and gave her a sad smile. "It means I'm going to change. And I'm not going to see you again. Not like this. Not with this daft old face." He laughed, knowing he was scaring her and trying to make her feel better. "And before I go - "  
"Don't say that!" Rose exclaimed.

"Rose - " Lucia began, but cut off when Rose glared at her.

"Before I go," the Doctor continued, not having noticed the exchange. "I just want to tell you, you were fantastic. Absolutely fantastic. And do you know what?" Rose shook her head and he grinned. "So was I." He glanced at Lucia who smiled at him for the last few moment before suddenly he convulsed and throws his arms out as he regenerates. Rose staggered back to Lucia's side, shielding her eyes from the heat and the light.

Meanwhile, Lucia watched, all traces of her smile gone. He should have left her, even if she would have died. He should've let her burn so that he could live. She looked down, unable to watch the damage she had caused, when all too soon the golden glow disappeared and she knew it had finished. She reluctantly looked up to see that the Doctor was now taller and younger, with a lot more hair. A completely new man.

He looked surprised for a moment before looking up at the two girls. "Hello, okay-ooh." He frowned, running his tongue over his teeth. "New teeth. That's weird. So, where was I?" he asked before smiling widely. "Oh, that's right! Barcelona."

He then began to run around the console, pressing certain switches and checking the monitor. "6pm... Tuesday..." he muttered as he worked, more to himself than to anyone else. "October... 5006... on the way to Barcelona!" He straightened up as he turned to the girls, looking extremely pleased with himself. "Now then... what do I look like?"

Lucia glanced at Rose but she seemed too shocked for words, so Lucia opened her mouth to tell him but he cut her off before she had the chance. "Rude," she muttered to herself.

"No, no no, no no no no no no no no. No. Don't tell me." He said quickly, either ignoring her comment or not hearing it. "Let's see... two legs, two arms, two hands," he twisted his wrists, testing them out. "Slight weakness in the dorsal tubercle." Before his hands flew to his head and his eyes widened with glee. "HAIR! I'm not bold!"  
"Well, not anymore." Lucia sent him a smirk, laughing when he pulled a face at her before continuing.

"Big hair!" He hands trailed down to the side of his head. "Sideburns! I've got sideburns... or really bad skin." He looked down at the rest of his body. "Little bit thinner." He commented, patting his stomach. "That's weird. Give me time, I'll get used to it." He gasped, rotating his shoulders slightly. "I... have got... a mole. I can feel it."

Lucia rolled her eyes at him and glanced at Rose again, who looked on the verge of having a panic attack. "Are you okay?" she asked her quietly, but the blonde shook her head, backing away until she was almost hiding behind one of the pillars.

The Doctor was, of course, oblivious. "Between my shoulder blades, there's a mole. That's all right. Love the mole." He grinned at the girls, straightening up to face them. "Go on then, tell me. What do you think?"  
"You look great." Lucia told him with a forced smile. Yes, she did think he looked great but she still couldn't help but think that this was wrong. That it was all her fault.

The Doctor grinned widely. "Really?" Lucia nodded. "Thanks."

"Who are you?" came a quiet and timid response from Rose, making both of them turn in her direction.

The Doctor looked disappointed. "I'm the Doctor."  
"No," Rose shook her head. "Where is he? Where's the Doctor? What have you done to him?!"

"Rose, that's him. That's the Doctor." Lucia took a step towards her but Rose backed away even more, glaring at her accusingly.

"You saw me, I-I changed..." the Doctor said quietly, indicating over his shoulder where he just regenerated. "Right in front of you."  
"I saw him explode, and then you replaced him, like a... a teleport or a transmat or a body swap or something." Rose invented quickly while the Doctor watched her, looking hurt. She stepped forwards and pushed him in the chest. "You're not folling me. I've seen all sorts of things. Nano genes, Gelth, Slitheen." Her eyes narrowed at the last one and she stared at him suspiciously. His eyebrows shot up while Lucia looked between the two of them confused. What the hell was a Slitheen?! "Oh my god, are you a Slitheen?"

"I'm not a Slitheen." The Doctor told her calmly.

"Send him back!" Rose shouted. "I'm warning you, send the Doctor back right now!"

"Rose, it is him." Lucia said slowly, pleading with her to listen but all it did was turn Rose's anger on to her.

"And you!" Rose spat. "You're in on this too."

"It is me." The Doctor cut through before Rose could say something to upset Lucia. "Honestly, it's me. I was dying. To save my own life I changed my body. Every single cell, but... it's still me."  
Rose stared at him. "You can't be." She whispered.

The Doctor took a few steps towards her and Rose, though looking like she wanted to move, stayed where she was. "Then how can I remember this?" he asked, looking her straight in the eye. "Very first word I ever said to you. Trapped in that cellar. Surrounded by shop window dummies... oh, such a long time ago. I took your hand..." as he said this, he took her hand and Lucia looked away, feeling that she was intruding on a private moment. "I said one word, just one word. I said... 'run'."

There was silence after that and Lucia held her breath until Rose whispered, "Doctor."

"Hello," the Doctor replied gently before taking off to run around the console again. "And we never stopped, did we? All across the universe. Running, running, running... One time we had to hop. Do you remember? Hopping for our lives." He hopped madly up and down on one spot and Lucia burst out laughing. The Doctor smiled at her and guestured her to join in. His happiness was too much to resist and before she knew it she was hopping, the two of them laughed together. The Doctor looked back at Rose, hoping to get as much enthiusiasm as Lucia. "Yeah? All that hopping? Remember hopping for your life? Yeah?! Hop? With the..." the Doctor trailed off at Rose's lack of reaction, and his hopping subsided. Lucia, not wanting to look stupid by hopping by herself, stopped too. "No?"  
"Can you change back?" Rose asked.

"Do you want me to?" he frowned.

"Yeah."  
"Oh." The Doctor frowned, looking very hurt.

Rose looked hopeful. "Can you?"

"No." He glanced briefly at the floor. "Do you want to leave?"  
Rose looked shocked and Lucia sighed. What did the girl expect when she seemed truly upset by this new Doctor. "Do you want me to leave?" she asked.

"No!" The Doctor replied quickly. "But... your choice, if you want to go home." He moved to the console again. "Cancel Barcelona. Change to... London, the Powell Estate... let's say the 24th December." He glanced at her. "Consider it a Christmas present."

Lucia bit her lip as she watched as Rose edge closer to console and the Doctor set the TARDIS to Earth. All she wanted to do was intervene, to tell them both to stop being so stupid because she could see that the Doctor didn't want Rose to leave and Rose obviously didn't want to leave either. But she was worried that she would get in the way and make things worse. She felt like an intruder. Hopefully one day that feeling will go away.

"I'm going home?" Rose asked.

The Doctor shrugged. "Upto you. Back to your mum... it's all waiting. Fish and chips, sausage and mash, beans and toasts, no Christmas! Turkey! Although, having met your mother, nut loaf would be more appropriate."

Rose looked down quickly to try and hide her smile, making both the Doctor and Lucia smile widely. Maybe this was the start of Rose accepting him.

"Was that a smile?" Lucia teased.

Rose shook her head, though the smile was still there. "No."  
"That was a smile..." the Doctor agreed.

"No, it wasn't." Rose said firmly, looking up again to show that she was no longer smiling. The Doctor sighed.

"Oh, come on, all I did was change. I didn't - " he cut off suddenly, gagging.

Rose looked at Lucia questioningly but all the girl could do was shrug. She had never seen a regeneration before, so she wouldn't be much help.

"What?" Rose asked him.

"I said I didn't - " the same thing happened again, more violently this time. "Uh oh."  
"Doctor, are you alright?" Lucia asked, concerned as she rushed to his side while Rose causiously edged closer. The Doctor had no chance to reply as a piece of golden time vortex floated out of his mouth. Rose, recognising it as the same thing that had appeared when Lucia had, shot her a look as if she was causing this.

"The change is going a bit wrong." The Doctor muttered as he gagged once more, falling to his knees in pain.

"Look," Rose started nervously. "Maybe we should go back. Let's go and find Captain Jack, he'd know what to do."  
"Gah, he's busy!" The Doctor said impatiently. "He's got plently to do, rebuilding the Earth." A lever on the console catched his eye. "I haven't used this one is years." He reached over to it and, before Lucia had a chance to stop him, flicked it. The TARDIS shuddered violently, Rose and Lucia nearly being knocked off their feet.

"What are you doing?!" Rose exclaimed.

"Putting on a bit of speed! That's it!" The Doctor raced around the console looking crazed while Rose and Lucia tried to hold on, the shaking getting worse by the second. "My beautiful ship! Come on, faster! That's a girl! Faster! Wanna break the time limit?!"  
"Doctor, stop!" Lucia yelled, pressing a few buttons to try and reverse everything the Doctor was doing when she was suddenly thrown backwards onto the floor. She looked up to see the Doctor looking at her in regret and Lucia realised that he'd pushed her away from the console. His face suddenly switched back to being crazed, as if nothing had even happened, as he continued with what he was doing.

"Doctor!" Rose yelled and he rolled his eyes.

"Ah, don't be so dull. Let's have a bit of fun! Let's rip through the time vortex!" He looks at her, his expression softening for a moment as he told her, "The regeneration's gone wrong. I can't stop myself. Ah, my head..." he grimaced in pain as Lucia managed to get herself back onto her feet and joined them at the console. "Faster! Let's open those engines!"  
Rose looked around anxiously as a bell rang. "What's that?" she asked Lucia, knowing she'd get a more sane answer from the girl than from the Doctor.

The Doctor laughed manically as Lucia replied calmly, "We're gonna crash."  
"Can't you stop him?!"  
"It's too late." Lucia frowned, watching the Doctor practically dance around the console. "At this point, he's too out of control and might do something stupid and dangerous."

Rose's eyes widened. "Like crash the TARDIS, for instance?!"

The Doctor hopped in the air excitedly as he giggled like a school girl. "Oh, I love it! Hot dawg!"  
"Your gonna kill us!" Rose yelled at him.

The Doctor ignored her. "Hold on tight, here we go!" He looked up and his eyes met Lucia's. He smiled at her softly and, despite the possibility of dying at any moment, she smiled back.

AN - Hmmm, so who is Lucia and how did she end up in the TARDIS? Please review and let me know what you think :) Next up... The Christmas Invasion!


	2. The Christmas Invasion

AN - Hey everyone :) Thanks so much for all of the people who have reviewed, alerted and put this story into their favourites. It's great knowing that people like this so far. I have to apologise about the wait - I wanted to make sure I had the outline of the story perfected and I kinda rushed to get this chapter on, so if there are any spelling or grammar mistakes please let me know and I'll correct them as soon as I can.

So, hope you enjoy it :)

...

Jackie Tyler hung a red bauble on the tree before walking over to the table to pick up two presents. She was about to put them under the tree but paused, her eyes on one of the presents; the present for her daughter. She sat down slowly, placing the other present on the coffee table as she read the label. _"To Rose. Merry Christmas. Lots of Love, Mum x."_

She blinked back tears as she thought of her daughter. It had been weeks since she last saw her daughter, since the doors of the TARDIS had slammed shut behind her. Jackie knew that there was a possibilty that her daughter was dead but she couldn't think about it too much. That made it more real and she didn't think she'd be able to cope.

She took a deep breath, making herself to get back to work. She finished putting the presents under the tree, then began putting up Christmas cards, forcing herself not to look into them to see her daughters name once again. About ten minutes later she froze, listening carefully as she heard a noise she recognised. Her eyes widened. "Rose!" she gasped, running out of the flat as fast as she could.

...

Mickey paused from his work, as he too heard the familiar noise. "Hey, turn that down." He said to his friend, indicating to the stereo that was blasting out 'Merry Christmas' so loud that his friend didn't hear him. "Hey, Stevo, turn that off! Turn it off!"

Stevo turned it off quickly and Mickey's grinned widely, hearing the TARDIS engines more clearly now. He dropped the spanner he had been holding instantly and dashed off in the direction the noise was coming from.

...

Jackie ran outside the block of flats at the same time Mickey race round the corner. "Mickey," she called as she ran over to him.

"Jackie, it's the TARDIS!" Mickey exclaimed as they came to a stop in front of each other.

"I know! I know, I heard it! She's alive, Mickey! I said so, didn't I? She's alive!"  
"Shut up a minute!"

They looked around frantically. "Well, where is it then?" Jackie asked, just before the TARDIS appeared out of thin air, twenty feet above their heads, crashing against the building. Jackie screamed and grabbed onto Mickey, the two of them ducked out of the way. The TARDIS flew across the street, finally skidding to a halt only a few feet away from Mickey and Jackie.

The Doctor swung the doors open and peered out. "Here we are, then! London! Earth! The Solar System! We did it!" He stumbled out, looking around with a grin on his face before smiling even wider when he caught sight of Jackie and Mickey. "Jackie! Mickey! Blimey! No, no, no, no, hold on. Wait there, I've got something to say. There was something I had to tell you. Something important, what was it? No, hold on, hold on..." he puts his hands on their shoulders, thinking hard while Mickey and Jackie shared a confused look. "Hold on. Shush, shush, shush, shush... OH!" The two of them jumped in alarm. "I know! Merry Christmas!" He grinned widely at them before falling to the floor unconcious, just as Rose walked out off the TARDIS, closely followed by Lucia.

"What happened? Is he alright?" Rose asked, while Lucia bent down next to him to check for herself, ignoring the curious looks she was getting.

Mickey frowned as he watched the doors, expecting the Doctor to walk out. "I don't know, he just keeled over! But who are these two?" Mickey asked, eyeing Lucia who was wearing just the familiar leather jacket that came down close to her knees. "Where's the Doctor?"  
"This is the Doctor and I'm Lucia. Nice to meet you." Lucia said absently.

"What do you mean 'that's the Doctor'?!" Jackie exclaimed. "Doctor who?!"

"Just the Doctor."  
Rose rolled her eyes impatiently. "He just... _changed_." She said, looking around and noticing that people were starting to stare. "Let's get him upstairs. Mickey, grab his legs."

Lucia stood up, about to grab the Doctor around the chest to help Mickey carry him upto the flat, only to be pushed away by Rose who glared at her. "Don't touch him!" Rose spat so harshly that Lucia took a step back. "If you didn't turn up none of this would've happened!"  
"Rose, if I hadn't have turned up then you would've eventually looked into the time vortex." Lucia said calmly, trying not to be effected by Rose's hostility while Jackie and Mickey looked between them confused. "Either you would've died or the Doctor WOULD have regenerated by taking it out of YOU."

"Just stay away." Rose said dismissively. "You're not needed." She then bent down to help carry the Doctor, heading upto the flat without a second glance at Lucia.

Lucia watched them go and, after hesitating for a moment, followed after them.

...

Lucia sat curled up on the chair next to the bed the Doctor was lying in, still unconscious, while Rose was sat on the edge of the bed, pointedly looking away from the girl.

Lucia, not very comfortable with the silence, was gratefull when Jackie turned up holding a stephoscope. "Here we go," Jackie whispered, handing it over to Rose. "Tina the cleaner has got a lodger, medical student. And she was fast asleep, so I just took it. Though, I still think we should take him to the hospital."

Lucia opened her mouth to reply but Rose beat her to it. "We can't." The blonde snapped quietly. "They'd lock him up. They'd dissect him. One bottle of his blood could change the future of the human race." Jackie went to say something. "No! Shush." Jackie sighed, looking over at Lucia with a small smile.

Though she didn't know the situation, or who this girl was, she could clearly see that the girl wasn't comfortable. Partly because all she was wearing was a jacket and partly because Rose was being anything but considerate. Jackie knew her daughter, and she knew that, before she had met the Doctor, Rose would've instantly tried to help. She had seen her daughter three times since she'd been missing for a year; the first time had been when she came home - when the spaceship had crashed into Big Ben, the second had just been a visit and the third had been when the Doctor had sent her home in the TARDIS. During these times, Jackie had had to watch her daughter change into a complete stranger and she knew why. She'd watched Rose slowly fall in love with an alien.

To say Jackie didn't approve of the relationship would be an understatement. For the obvious reasons and also because of the changes. Her daughter had gone from a person who would put everyone before herself to someone who is extremely possesive over the Doctor and barely notices if she hurts people because of it (mainly Mickey and, more recently, Lucia). If this was how she was like now, what would it be like if Rose and the Doctor actually got together.

But it's not like she can say anything, what if Rose dicided to leave in that blue box and never come back?

"Both working." Rose said suddenly, bringing Jackie back into the present.

Jackie frowned. "What d'you mean both?"  
"He has two hearts." Lucia explained softly, looking down quickly when Rose glared at her.

"What are you even doing here?" Rose asked rudely.

"Rose." Jackie reprimanded. "Since this is my flat and you're hardly ever home, I think it's upto me to decide who's allowed in here or not." Rose rolled her eyes once more before getting up and walking out of the room. Jackie smiled at Lucia as if nothing had happened. "You can stay as long as you want sweetheart."  
Lucia forced a smile on her face. "Thank you." She said quietly, turning her gaze back onto the Doctor. Jackie's smile faded as soon as Lucia had looked away, as she got up and followed her daughter into the kitchen. Once she was gone, Lucia leaned towards the Doctor and whispered, "Please wake up. Please. I'm so sorry."

The Doctor's mouth opened and Lucia held her breath... only to be disappointed when wips of golden time vortex escaped from his mouth but he showed no sign of waking up.

...

"How can he go changing his face?" Jackie asked as soon as she was in the kitchen, hoping to turn Rose's attention away from Lucia and onto the Doctor. Rose didn't answer as she stood up from the fridge, a pork pie in her hand. "Is that a different face or is he a different person?"

"How should I know?!" Rose exclaimed, moving to storm out of the room only to stop at the doorway. She turned around to face Jackie guiltily. "Sorry." Jackie nodded. "The thing is... I thought I knew him, mum. I thought me and him were... and then he goes and does this." Rose's voice trembled as tears began to fall down her face. Jackie instantly moved towards her, rubbing her arm gently as Rose wiped the tears off her face. "I keep forgetting he's not human." She took a deep breath and, in an obvious attempt to keep her voice light hearted. "The big question is, where did you get a pair of men's pyjamas from?"

"Howard's been staying over."

"What, Howard from the market? How long's that been going on?"  
Jackie shrugged. "About a month or so. First of all, he starts delivering to the door and I thought 'that's a bit odd'. Next thing I know, it's a bag of oranges - "  
"Is that Harriet Jones?!" Rose cut her off, walking into the livingroom to look at the TV.

"Oh, never mind me." Jackie muttered to herself before following.

"Why's she on the telly?" Rose asked, having missed her last comment.

"She's Prime Minister now. I'm eighteen quid a week better off. They're calling it 'Britain's Golden Age'." Jackie explained, watching Rose smile at the screen. "Keep on saying 'my Rose has met her'."

"Did more than that, stopped World War Three with her. Harriett Jones..."  
"Harriett Jones," a man on the TV said. "What about those calling the Guinever One Space Probe a waste of money?"  
"Now, that's where you're wrong. I completely disagree, if you don't mind." Harriett replied firmly, making Rose giggle. "The Guinever One Space Probe represent's the country's limitless ambition. British workmanship sailing up there among the stars."

The camera switches onto a man with a brown beard at that moment and Rose turned away, only to freeze when she saw Lucia standing in the doorway, wringing her hands nervously. Without saying a word, Rose pushed past her - almost knocking her into the wall - to get back into the bedroom.

Jackie sighed. "You alright sweetheart? Can I get you anything?"  
Lucia shook her head slightly. "What's all that about?" she asked, pointing to the TV.

"Oh, they sent a probe to Mars to get pictures." Jackie shrugged, not all that bothered about all the space things. "Do you want a cup of tea?"

"Tea?"  
"Yeah, do you want tea? Or I have coffee. What do you like?"  
"Don't know. I've never had either."

Jackie stared at Lucia as if she'd grown another head before walking into the kitchen, intent on making her a cup of each.

...

"So, what d'you need? Twenty quid?" Mickey asked as he and Rose walked through the crowded streets.

"D'you mind? I'll pay you back." She took the note off him.

Mickey laughed, knowing she wouldn't. "Call it a Christmas present."  
"God, I'm all out of synch." Rose sighed. "You just forget about Christmas and things in the TARDIS. They don't exist. You get sort of... timeless."  
"Oh yeah, that's fascinating, 'cos I love hearing about the TARDIS." Mickey said dryly. "Oh, go on, Rose, tell us another one 'cos I could listen to it all day. TARDIS this, TARDIS that."  
"Shut up!"  
"Oh!" Mickey continued sarcastically. "One time, the TARDIS landed in a biiiig yellow garden, full of bloons."  
"I'm not like that."

"Oh, you so are."

"Hmmm," Rose sighed heavily. "Must drive you mad. I'm surprised you don't give up on me."  
"Oh, that's the thing, isn't it? You can rely on me. I don't go changing my face."  
Rose was silent for a moment. "Yeah... What if he's dying?"  
"Okay - " Mickey stopped walking.

"Sorry!" Rose said quickly.

"It's constant Rose. Even more than the TARDIS." Mickey told her. "If you want to talk about all that, why don't you have a change and explain who that Lucia is."

Rose pursed her lips. "She just appeared in the TARDIS."  
"What, just like that?"  
"Do we have to talk about this? Why don't you just ask her?!"

Mickey, panicking that he had ruined everything, grabbed her hands tightly. "Just let it be Christmas!" He pleaded. "How about that? Just for a bit. You and me, and Christmas. No, no Doctor. No Lucia. No bog monsters. No life and death."

"Okay," Rose agreed after a moment and Mickey let out a breath of relief.

"Right. What're you gonna get for your mum?" he asked as they began walking again.

He then began babbling so Rose let her mind wander back to the Doctor. What if he _was _dying? What was she going to do? If he was going to die, she knew that she would be heartbroken. How was she going to live without him? Without that life? Maybe Lucia would take over. Rose clenched her teeth together. She hated the idea of _her _flying away in the TARDIS. It belonged to the Doctor, and the Doctor ONLY.

Rose shook her head, sighing quietly, before looking to her left to see a brass band, dressed as masked Santas. There was something...wrong about them. As she watched, the Santas stopped playing and stared in their direction. Rose stopped in her tracks, staring back at them while Mickey was none the wiser. Suddenly, blue flames shot out of the Santas intruments making everyone in the area start running around screaming.

Mickey, finally realising that something was wrong, grabbed Rose's arm and pulled her to duck behind a stall. "It's us." Rose gasped. "They're after us."  
The stall they were behind was blasted, forcing Mickey to take action while Rose screamed. He watched them carefully as they dashed towards the large Christmas tree, timing it just right so that when the Santas shot at them again they hit the Christmas tree instead. It fell to the ground, landing on one of the Santas, while Mickey and Rose continued to run down the street.

"What's going on? What've we done? Why are they after us?" Mickey asked frantically.

"Taxi!" Rose yelled, spotting one ahead of them. As soon as they reached it, they got in and Rose pulled out her phone. "They're after the Doctor."  
"I can't even go shopping with you. We get attacked by a brass band." He muttered as the taxi drove off, leaving the Santas behind. "Who're you phoning?"

"My mum."

...

"She turns up - no warning." Jackie rambled on to her friend on the phone as she made a cup of tea. "I've got nothing in. I said 'Rose, if you want a Christmas dinner with meat paste, then so be it'." She walked into the bedroom, half listening to her friend as she handed Lucia the cup of tea with a small wink. "Oh no, don't come round, darling. No, the flats all topsy turvy... Yeah, she just barges in and litters the place. Yeah, I'll come round and see you on boxing day."

Lucia gave Jackie a thankfull smile before the woman left, turning back to watch the Doctor as yet another wisp floated from his mouth.

...

"Get off the phone!" Rose ordered as soon as they were in the flat.

"It's only Bev!" Jackie exclaimed, extremely confused. "She says hello."

Rose snatched the phone off her mother. "Bev... Yeah, it will have to wait." She said before hanging up, making Jackie frown even more. "Right, it's not safe, we've gotta get out of here. Where can we go?"  
"My mate Stan, he'll put us up." Mickey suggested but Rose shook her head.

"That's only two streets away. What about Mo? Where's she living now?"  
Jackie shrugged, still not getting why they were so worried. "I dunno! Peak District."  
"Okay, we'll go to Cousin Mo's then."  
"We could go to the TARDIS," a voice said suddenly, making the three of them jump and turn towards the doorway to see Lucia standing there. "No one will be able to get in."

"It sounds like a good idea." Mickey agreed, seeing that Rose was about to say no just because it was Lucia who had suggested it.

"It's Christmas eve!" Jackie shouted. "We're not going anywhere! What are you babbling about!"  
"Mum - " Rose started but cut off when something caught her eye behind Jackie. "Where'd you get that tree? That's a new tree. Where'd you get it?"  
The old tree, the Christmas tree Jackie and Rose had been using for years, was a small and white. The new one was atleast double it's size and green.

Jackie turned to look at it before looking back at Rose. "Well, it was you." She said, though she sounded unsure now.

"How could it be me?!"  
"Well, you went shopping, there was a ring at the door and there it was."  
"No, that wasn't me."  
"... Then who was it?"

"Maybe you shound get back." Lucia said, eyeing the tree causiously. Jackie, Mickey and Rose instantly moved towards the doorway as the tree lit up.

"Oh, you've got to be kidding me." Rose moaned, just before the tree began spinning. Getting faster, and faster, and faster.

"Go, go, go!" Mickey yelled. "Get out." He picked up a chair and held it out in front of him. Lucia ran straight to the bedroom while Jackie headed for the door and Rose hesitated at the doorway of the bedroom.

"We've got to save the Doctor!"

"What're you doing?" Jackie ran back to the doorway, her eyes wide as the tree began to smash up the chair.

"We can't just leave him here, Jackie." Lucia told her, as she began seaching through the Doctor's clothing in search for the sonic screwdriver.

"Mickey!" Jackie screamed but Mickey held his ground. "Mickey! Get out of there!" Mickey finally gave up, dropping the chair, and ran down the hallway. Jackie had hoped that he would run out of the front door, but instead he ran into the bedroom. "Just leave him!"

Mickey grabbed Jackie's arm impatiently and pulled her in. "Get in here!" He snapped, slamming the door shut behind her and moving to slide the wardrobe in front of it.

"Doctor, wake up!" Rose called to him, while Lucia kept searching.

Jackie and Mickey leaned against the wardrobe as it began to shake, the Christmas tree on the other side of the door starting to tear through it. Finally, it smashed through it and Jackie and Mickey were thrown backwards.

"I'm gonna get killed by a Christmas tree!" Jackie whimpered, closing her eyes tightly.

Lucie froze, rolling her eyes at her own stupidity as she reached into the pocket of the leather jacket she was still wearing and pulled out the sonic. She placed it in the Doctor's hand and whispered in his ear, "Help us." Before moving back calmly.

The Doctor shot up and pointed the sonic screwdriver at the tree, making it explode. There was a moment of silence as the Doctor stared at the spot where the tree had been while everyone else stared at him. "Remote control. But who's controling it?" he asked, getting out of bed and walking out of the room, grabbing a dressing gown on the way out.

The Doctor walked onto the balcony while the rest of them followed, Lucia looking the calmest out of all of them, to see the three Santas staring up at them from the ground below.

"That's them." Mickey said. "Who are they?"  
"Shush!" Rose slapped his arm lightly, her gaze on the Doctor who simply raised his sonic screwdriver at them. To the humans surprise, the Santas backed off before suddenly disappearing.

Mickey scoffed in disbelief. "They've just gone! What kind of rubbish were they? I mean, no offence, but they're not much cop if a sonic screwdriver's gonna scare them off."  
"Pilot Fish." The Doctor just said.

"What?" Rose moved forward quickly.

"They were just Pilot Fish." The Doctor coughed and threw himself backwards against the wall, grimacing in pain. Lucia managed to kneel right next to him before Rose had the chance to knock her out the way, which she looked like she was ready to do. Instead, she knelt down on the other side of the Doctor. "You woke me too soon." He panted. "I'm still regenerating. I'm bursting with energy." As if to prove what he was saying, some of the golden time vortex burst from his mouth. "You see? The Pilot Fish could smell it. A million miles away. So they eliminate the defence, that's you lot, and they carry me off. They could run their batteries on me for a couple of year - " he cut off, lunging forwards so that he was next to Jackie. "My head! I'm having a neuron implosion. I need - "  
"What do you need?" Jackie asked hysterically.

"I need - "  
"Say it, tell me, tell me - "  
"I need - "  
"Painkillers?"  
"I need - "  
"Do you need asprin?"  
"I - "  
"Codeine? Paracetamol? Oh, I dunno, Pepto Bismol?"  
"I need - "  
"Liguid paraffin. Vitamin C? Vitamin D? Vitamin E?"

"I need - "

"Is it food? Something simple? Uh, bowl of soup? A nice bowl of soup? Soup and a sandwich? Soup and a little ham sandwich?"  
"Cup of tea?" Lucia suggested, trying to hide her amusement. It was the only thing Jackie _hadn't _offered.

"I need you to shut up." The Doctor finally got out.

"He hasn't changed that much, has he?" Jackie frowned.

The Doctor lunged forwards again so that he was back inbetween Lucia and Rose. "We haven't got much time. If there's Pilot Fish, then - " he cut off suddenly taking an apple out of the dressing gown. "Why's there an apple in my dressing gown?"  
"Oh, that's Howard, sorry." Jackie bit her lip.

"Why does he keep apples in his dressing gown?" Lucia asked confused.

Jackie shrugged. "He gets hungry."  
"What, he gets hungry in his sleep?" the Doctor asked, handing the apple to Lucia.

"Sometimes."

The Doctor shouted out in pain, sinking to the floor. "Brain...collapsing!" He grabbed onto Rose's upper arms, looking at her intently. "P... the Pilot Fish. The Pilot Fish mean... that something." He took a deep breath before finishing. "Something is coming." He then collapsed into Rose's lap.

...

Mickey walked in with his laptop, pausing to look into the bedroom to see Lucia kneeling next to the Doctor on the bed, tucking him in and mopping his forehead with a flannel. While Rose stood at the bottom of them bed with her arms folded, watching the girl coldly. Mickey sighed and shook his head before walking into the livingroom, placing his laptop on the table.

"Jackie, I'm using the phone line. Is that alright?" he asked, already setting it up.

"Yeah, keep a count of it." Jackie told him, placing a cup of tea next to him on the table. "It's midnight. Christmas day." Rose then walked in and sat on the sofa. "Any change?"

"He's worse. Just one heart beating." Rose sighed, about to take the cup of tea off Jackie when it was pulled away from her.

Rose stared at her confused. "It's Lucia's." Jackie told her and Rose's expression darkened as she reached out for the cup again and took it from her mother.

Jackie sighed but sat down next to Rose without saying anything, knowing it would do no good.

_"Scientists in charge of Britain's mission to Mars have re-established contact with the Guinevere One space probe." A reporter said on the TV. "They're expecting the first transmission from the planet surface in the next few minutes."_  
_"Yes, we are." A man called Llewellyn said in a live press conference. "We're- We're back on schedule. We've recieved the signal from Guinevere One. The Mars landing would seem to be an unqualified success."_  
_"But is it true that you completely lost contact earlier tonight?" one of the reporters asked._

_"Yes, we had a bit of a scare. Guinevere seemed to fall off the scope, but it - it was just a blip. Only disappeared for a few seconds. She's fine now, absolutely fine. We - we're getting the first pictures transmitted live any minute now. I'd better get back to it, thanks."_

"Here we go, Pilot Fish." Mickey said suddenly and Rose was instantly by his side to look. "Scavengers like the Doctor said. Harmless - they're tiny, but the point is, the little fish swim alongside the big fish."  
"Do you mean like sharks?"  
Mickey nodded. "Great big sharks. So, what the Doctor means is, we had them... now we get that." He pointed to the screen as an animation of a shark snapped viciously.

"Something is coming..." Rose muttered to herself, thinking on the Doctor's words. "How close?"  
"There's no way of telling, but the Pilot Fish don't swim far from their daddy."  
"So, it's close."  
"Funny sort of rocks." Jackie said, making Rose and Mickey look up at the telly which was static but the image was getting clearer.

Rose frowned. "That's not rocks." She muttered, walking closer to the TV while Mickey and Jackie leaned forwards aswell, trying to make out the image on the screen. Suddenly, the image was thrown into focus and it was revealed to be an alien, roaring loudly. The three of them jumped back with a gasp.

"What the hell was that?!" Jackie exclaimed.

"What's going on?" Lucia asked, having heard a noise in the livingroom and came in to see what was wrong.

"There was an alien on TV." Rose said slowly, avoiding looking at her.

"What sort of alien?"

Rose spun around to glare at her. "How are we supposed to know?!" she sneered, making Lucia flinch.

There was an awkward silence which was broke when Mickey cleared his throat, sitting back down in front of his laptop. "I'll try to hack into the military, see what's going on."

Rose sat down on the sofa, her arms folded as she stared at the TV while Jackie gave Lucia a sympathetic smile before the girl walked back into the bedroom.

...

"This regeneration is quite funny." Lucia told the Doctor quietly. "Babbling away. A mouth that won't stop... I'm sorry I woke you up. I just didn't know what to do. I wanted to make things right but all I seem to do is make them worse. Maybe Rose is right, maybe it would've been better had I never turned up."

"You shouldn't take any notice of Rose." Mickey said as he walked into the bedroom with another cup of tea from Jackie, catching the end of what Lucia was saying. "She's just having a bad time at the moment."  
"She sees me as a threat." Lucia said simply. Not in a judgemental way, not even in a sad way, just matter-of-fact. Mickey paused, that did make a lot of sense and he was surprised he hadn't thought of it sooner. Another woman turning up suddenly, clearly wearing nothing and seems to care about the Doctor alot. He was shocked that Rose hadn't thrown the girl out of an air lock on the way here.

Mickey sat down on the other chair, on the opposite side on the bed Lucia was sitting on, and studied the girl quietly. "So, where did you actually come from?"

Lucia looked up, surprised by the question. "Oh, erm. I was created from the time vortex." She told him but Mickey just stared at her blankly.

"The what?"

"The thing that Rose was trying to look in to to get back to the Doctor, that is known as the Heart of the TARDIS and it's made up of Time Vortex. The TARDIS is telepathic and could understand what Rose was trying to do but could also see that the plan wasn't working, so she made me."

"What, just like that?" Mickey asked. Rose _had _told him about the TARDIS being telepathic the last time he'd seen her but, because the TARDIS had done nothing to help, he thought that it was rubbish that the Doctor had come up with. "Does that make you _real_?"

Lucia hesitated. Yes, she was real in the sense that she was flesh and blood. But there were many species who would look at her and say she wasn't; Time Lords being one of them. They would have seen her as an abomination. An echoe. She'd been surprised that the Doctor seemed as welcoming as he did the few times they were both concious. Any other Time Lord would have left her to burn up. Of course, that could mean that he didn't have a clue what she actually was... "Sort of." She admitted to Mickey. "When the TARDIS created me, she made me a Time Lady. But there's too much time vortex in me, for me to be considered a 'proper' Time Lady."

"So, you're one of a kind."

Lucia chuckled sadly as she looked down at her cup of tea. "Yep. No one like me."

Mickey watched her as she took a sip of her drink. There was something about her expression that seemed...lost. It was the same expression he'd seen on the Doctor quite a few times since he'd met him. Maybe they weren't as different as she thought.

Lucia looked up at him again with a smile. "I thought you were hacking into the military."

"Yeah, Jackie sent me to check on you." Mickey explained. Rose had noticed that her mother had taken a liking to the girl and was glaring at Jackie every time she stood up to do something, assuming that she was going to talk to Lucia. It was taking its toll on Jackie, but there was no reason to tell Lucia this. She was already feeling uncomfortable here as it was. "Could you help? It would be good to have an aliens point of view on the...well, aliens."

Lucia glanced at the Doctor before looking back at Mickey with a smile. "Sure." She said, not sounding all that enthusiastic but she followed Mickey into the livingroom and sat down next to him at the table.

"Here, take a look." Mickey told her, pointing to the screen. "They're tracking a spaceship. It's big, it's fast, and it's coming this way."  
"Coming for what though? The Doctor?" Rose asked, moving to look at the screen as well.

"I don't think they even know about him." Lucia said quietly. "If they had access to Guinevere One then they probably have everything that came with it. Humans are constantly sending things upto space in the hope that they'd get some contact. If that's the case then these lot have information about Humans and it looks like they've taken an interest."

"Question is; is it good or bad?" Mickey muttered as the picture changed to an image of four aliens. One of them began talking, though none of them could understand a word. "Have you seen them before?" Mickey asked.  
Rose shook her head. "No. I don't understand what they're saying. The TARDIS translates alien languages inside my head, wherever I am."  
"So, why isn't it doing it now?"  
"The Doctor is connected to the TARDIS," Lucia cut in. "Because he isn't well, the TARDIS isn't working as it usually is."  
"Who's fault is that?" Rose muttered to herself.

"Mine." Lucia said clearly, staring straight at Rose unflinchingly when she glared at her, until Rose eventually looked away.

Mickey looked between the two of them cautiously. "Can _you _understand them?" he asked Lucia.

"Not straight away. I might be able to after a while but it could take a while."

"Well, then, get to it." Rose said before sitting back on the sofa.

"Right," Lucia sighed. She grabbed a notebook and a pen and began writting down what the aliens were saying.

...

Mickey watched Lucia work in fascination. It had been just over an hour since she had started and she had not stopped for even a second. The tea that Jackie had made her was stone cold on the table in front of her, which was odd since Lucia seemed to be addicted ever since Jackie'd made her a cup earlier.

He broke his gaze from her to look around the room, only to find it empty. When had that happened? "I'll be right back." He whispered to Lucia, who only nodded.

He walked down the hall to find Rose standing in the doorway of the bedroom, watching the Doctor sleep while Jackie slept in the chair beside him. Mickey couldn't help but smile, despite Jackie's constant insistance that she hated 'that man' she sure seemed to be concerned for him.

"The Doctor wouldn't do this." Rose said shakily when he was stood next to her. "The old Doctor. The proper Doctor. He'd wake up. He'd save us."

"You really love him, don't you." He whispered, trying to keep the hurt and pain out of his voice. He should be moving on, forgetting about Rose who seemed content to just forget everything they were and run off with the Doctor. But he couldn't. If Rose ever needed him he'd be there in a second because, despite everything, he still loved her.

Rose didn't answer. Instead she just sighed and rested her head on his shoulder.

"Guys," Lucia said, walking over to them. "I've translated it; _People, you belong to us. To the Sycorax. We own you. We now possess your land, your minerals, your precious stones. You will surrender or they will die. Sycorax strong, Sycorax might, Sycorax rock!_"

"They will die?"

"I don't know who they mean," Lucia shrugged. "But I don't think it's good."

They walked back into the livingroom as Mickey'd laptop beeped to see the four Sycorax back on the screen. "Looks like they're sending another message." Mickey sighed as he sat down. "Will you be able to understand them this time?"  
Lucia sat down next to him. "Enough to get the gist."

"We don't need 'the gist', we need details." Rose said shirtily, though she sat down next to Lucia anyway.

But, instead of speaking, the front Sycorax took a step forwards, holding out his hands which had a blue light around it. Mickey and Rose looked at each other confused. "What the hell is that supposed to mean?!"

"It looked like they're hypnotising someone." Lucia said, jumping up suddenly and running outside, Mickey and Rose following.  
As they got out onto the balcony, a woman walked past them yelling after a man who didn't show any sign that he'd heard her as he walked off. "What is wrong with you? Jason? Jason?"

"Sandra?" Rose called after her.

Sandra glanced at them, looking desperate. "He won't listen! He's just walking, he won't stop walking." She cried before following Jason again. "There's this sort of... light, thing. Jason? Stop it! Right now!"

The three of them followed Sandra and Jason to the staircase to see it packed with people, walking as if they were in a trance, heading up. They followed the people to the very edge of the rooftop, where they finally stopped.

"Jason, I'm talking to you! Just stop!" Sandra cried, holding onto Jason tightly.

"_They _will die." Lucia sighed heavily.

"What do we do?" Mickey asked.

"Nothing." Rose said without much emotion in her voice, as she looked around at the people. "There's no one to save us. Not anymore."

"So, your plan is to just let this happen." Lucia frowned at Rose but the blonde just turned and walked back down the stairs.

...

When Mickey and Lucia decided to go back to the flat, they found Jackie and Rose standing in the middle of the livingroom watching Harriett Jones on TV, making a speech. _"Ladies and gentlemen..." the Prime Minister began. "If I may take a moment during this terrible time. It's hardly the Queen's speech, I'm afraid that'd been cancelled." She turned to the side to speek to someone. "Did we ask about the Royal family?" she asked, her eyes widening as someone replied before she turned back to the camera. "Oh, they're on the roof. But, ladies and gentlemen, this crisis is unique, and I'm afraid to say, it might get a bit worse. I would ask you to remain calm. But I have one request: Doctor. If you're out there... we need you. I don't know what to do. But if you can hear me, Doctor..."_

Rose turned away, fighting back tears as she walked down the hall way to the bedroom.

_"If anyone knows the Doctor, if anyone can find him... the situation has never been more desperate. Help us. Please, Doctor. Help us."_

Rose began sobbing as she stared at the Doctor. She'd lost him. Her sobs came out harder and Jackie rushed to her side. "He's gone." She cried. "The Doctor's gone. He's left me, mum. He's left me, mum..."

Jackie kissed Rose's forehead and pulled her into her arms. Rose held onto her tightly and the two of them screamed when there was a loud smash as every window in the flat shattered and the place shook.

In the livingroom, Mickey and Lucia grabbed onto each other to stop themselves falling to the floor. "What was that?" Mickey gasped, once the shaking had stopped.

"The spaceship's hit the atmosphere," Lucia explained quickly before she ran past Jackie and Rose, out of the flat. Once she was out, she looked up into the sky to see the large spaceship hovering over London. Mickey, Rose and Jackie, who had followed her out, stared at it in shock.

"Mickey, we're gonna carry him." Rose said firmly as the four of them ran back into the bedroom. "Mum, get your stuff, and get some food. We're going."  
"Well, where to?" Mickey asked, as Rose pushed the duvet off the Doctor.

"The TARDIS. It's the only safe place on Earth."  
"What, and hide?" Lucia questioned but was ignored. "You're just going to leave all those people to die?"

"Have you got a plan?"

"Contact Harriett Jones." Lucia suggested. "She'll be working with UNIT. They could find a way to wake up the Doctor."  
Rose laughed bitterly. "Nice to know how willing you are to risk the Doctor like that. It was your idea to hide in the TARDIS in the first place."

"The Doctor used to work for UNIT, they know what he is and I suggested that when we were up against Pilot Fish. When it was just us in danger and not the entire planet." Lucia said calmly but when Rose continued to try and get the Doctor out of bed. She sighed, knowing she was fighting a loosing battle, so she gave up.

...

Mickey and Rose carried the Doctor out of the flat while Lucia and Jackie followed, carrying bags of food, struggling with the amount Jackie had decided to bring.

"Will you just leave that stuff and give us a hand?" Rose rolled her eyes as Lucia dropped one of the bags.

"It's food!" Jackie said defensively. "You said we need f - "  
"Just leave it!"

They somehow managed to get down the stairs and out to the TARDIS, placing the Doctor on the floor near the console.

"No chance you can fly this thing?" Mickey asked, looking at Lucia.

"Not at the moment, no." Lucia panted, dropping the food to the floor and almost letting a breath of relief. If humans actually carried round that much while they were shopping they were crazy!

"You did before." Rose muttered, flopping down on the pilots seat.  
"The TARDIS won't fly without the Doctor." Lucia invented quickly. She could fly the TARDIS on her own, but she just didn't want. She didn't want to leave Earth in the middle of an alien invasion.

Mickey frowned. "So, what do we do? Just sit here?"

"That's as good as it gets!" Rose snapped, clearly getting annoyed with everyone questioning her about her decision to stay in the TARDIS. Just because _she _said differently.

"Right, here we go." Jackie said lightly, holding up a thermal flask. "Nice cup of tea."  
Rose rolled her eyes. "Hmm, the solution to everything."

"Now stop your moaning. I'll go and get the rest of the food." Jackie handed Lucia the flask before walking out of the TARDIS.

"Tea." Mickey chuckled. "Like we're having a picnic while the whole world comes to an end."  
"Very British." Lucia muttered, taking a sip as she looked down at the Doctor, not even looking up when Mickey asked, "How does this thing work?"  
He was standing on the other side of the console, looking at the screen. "It picks up TV, maybe we could see what's going on out there Maybe we've surrendered. What do you do to it?"  
"I dunno, it sorts of tunes itself." Rose said boredly as she and Mickey pressed a few buttons before it started to make a beeping noise.

"What's that?" Lucia asked, getting up and walking over to them. "What buttons did you press?"  
Mickey showed her which ones had been pressed and which ones hadn't, making Lucia frown. There was no reason for the TARDIS to be making that noise. So why was it?

"Maybe it's a distress signal." Mickey suggested hopefull.

"Fat lot of good that's gonna do." Rose muttered.  
"Well, aren't you cheery." Lucia hadn't even realised she'd spoke until she noticed there was a stunned silence. She looked around to see Mickey hiding a small smile and Rose giving her a death glare.

"You should look at it from my point of view." Mickey said quickly. "Stuck in here with Jackie Tyler's cooking."  
Rose broke away from glaring at Lucia to frown at the closed doors. "Where is she?" she jumped to her feet. "I'd better go and give her a hand. It might start raining missiles out there."

"Tell her anything from a tin, that's fine."

"Tell her yourself!"  
Mickey smirked. "I'm not that brave."  
Rose turned and smirked back. "Oh, I don't know..." she said, almost flirtily. Lucia stared between them confused. Rose, in her opinion, had made it clear that she had feelings for the Doctor, so why was she flirting with Mickey? Didn't she care that she could hurt Mickey by doing that?

Rose turned back around and walked out the TARDIS, when she suddenly started screaming. Mickey and Lucia ran to her, Lucia dropping the flask along the way.

"Get off me! Get off me!" Rose yelled once they'd reached the door to find that they were no longer on Earth; they were now inside the spaceship. Lucia spun around and slammed the doors shut, just in time as a Sycorax grabbed her and Mickey, pulling them towards Rose, a tall man in a suit whose name tag said 'Alex' and Harriett Jones.

"Rose!" Harriett stumbled towards her, holding her tightly in her arms. "Rose! I've got you. My lord. My precious thing. The Doctor... is he with you?"  
"No, we're on our own." Rose replied shakily.

"You've still got me." Lucia told her softly but Rose just scoffed.

The Sycorax began talking and Alex, holding a device, began to translate. "'The yellow girl. She has the clever blue box. Therefore, she speaks for your planet'."  
"But she can't." Harriett protested

"Yeah I can." Rose said quietly, not taking her eyes off the leader.

Lucia stared at her. "Rose, you _can't_."

"Someone's gotta be the Doctor, since you clearly can't!"  
"They'll kill you." Harriett cried, grabbing Rose's arm only for the blonde to shake her off.

"Never stopped him." She took a few steps forward, the surrounding Sycorax muttering excitedly. "I, um... I adress the Sycorax according to... article fifteen of the Shadow Proclamation. I command that you leave this world with all the authority of the Slitheen Parliament of Raxicoricofallapatorius, and um... the Gelth Confederacy..." Rose said nervously, backing up slightly as the leader began to stride towards her. "A - as uh... sanctioned... by the Mighty Jagrafess... and, oh, the Daleks! Now, leave this planet in peace. In peace..."

Everyone stared at her stunned. Lucia then closed her eyes with a sigh, silently praying for the Doctor to wake up and save them since, she was guessing, Rose had just made things worse.

The Sycorax began laughing, Rose laughing nervously with them, before the leader began to speak again. "'You are very, very funny. And now you're going to die'."  
"No." Lucia lurched forwards to get Rose out of the way, along with the rest of the group, all yelling out aswell, but they were forced back.

"'Did you think you were clever with your stolen words? We are the Sycorax. We astride the darkness'." He hissed at Rose, making her whimper and flinch away. "'Next to us you are but a wailing child. If you are the best your planet can offer as a champion...'"  
"Then your world will be gutted..."  
"...then your world will be gutted..."  
"...and your people enslaved."  
"...and your people en - " Alex cut off, looking up confused as the rest of the group stared at the leader in shock. "Hold on, that's English."

Lucia couldn't help but smile, knowing what this meant. Well, it was about time!

"He's talking English." Harriett frowned in confusion.

"That's English." Rose turned to look at the rest of the group. "Can you hear English?" They all nodded.

"I speak only Sycoraxic!" The Leader roared angrily.

"If I can hear English..." Rose muttered to herself, slowly working it out, "then it's being translated. Which means it's working. Which means..." she turned around to face the TARDIS. The others, apart from Lucia, still didn't understand what was going on but turned aswell as the doors opened to reveal the Doctor, standing there with a wide grin.

"Did you miss me?" he asked. The Leader roared furiously, lashing his whip at the Doctor who, the grin still stuck on his face, simply caught the end of it and pulled it out of the Leaders grasp. "You could have someone's eye out with that!" He walked further away from the TARDIS as the Leader came at him again, this time was a staff. Again, the Doctor took it from the Leaders grasp, snapping it and throwing the broken pieces on the floor. "You just can't get the staff. Now, you, just wait. I'm busy." The Doctor pointed at him, completely serious, oblivious to the fact the Leader was gaping at him incredulously.

He walked back to the group and surprised everyone by grabbing hold of Lucia, he lifted her from the ground as he gave her a large hug. After a moment or two he placed her back on her feet but didn't let go of her completely. "How are you holding up?" he asked her, looking at her intently as if to spot any lie she'd try to tell.

"Fine." Lucia told him but he didn't break his gaze from her, so she sighed and admitted, "I'm getting there."

The Doctor nodded, letting her go to turn to Mickey who he gave a wide smile. "Mickey! Hello!" He exclaimed before catching sight of a familiar face. "And Harriett Jones MP for Flydale North! Blimey, it's like 'This is your life'!" He turned to Rose who quickly plastered a smile on her face, not willing to let him see that only a moment before she'd been scowling. "Tea! That's all I needed! A good cup of tea! Superheated infusion of free radicals and tannin. Just the thing for healing the synapses..." he lowered his voice as he looked down at Rose, sounding as serious as he had when he'd been speaking to Lucia. "Now, first things first, be honest. How do I look?"  
"Um..." Rose muttered, put out that Lucia had got all of that concern but when he spoke to her all he wanted to know was how he looked. "Different." She decided to go for.

"Good different or bad different?"  
"Just... different."  
"Am I," the Doctor began slowly. "Ginger?" Lucia snorted, rolling her eyes at him as he flashed her a wink before turning back to Rose.

Rose clenched her fist tightly. "No, your just sort of brown."

The Doctor turned away with a groan. "Aww, I wanted to be ginger. I've never been ginger. And you, Rose Tyler, fat lot of good you are! You gave up on me!" The Doctor shouted before frowning. "Ohh, that's rude. That's the sort of man I am now, rude? Rude and not ginger."

Harriet, finally having enough, spoke up, "I'm sorry. Who is this?"  
"I'm the Doctor." He said as if it should be obvious.

"He's the Doctor." Lucia agreed, smiling at him happily.

"But what happened to my Doctor? Or is it a title that's just passed on?"  
"I'm him. I'm literally him." The Doctor walked over to her. "Same man, new face. Well, new everything."  
"But you can't b - "  
"Harriet Jones. We were trapped in Downing Street, and the one thing that scared you wasn't the aliens... wasn't the war... it was the thought of your mother being on her own." Harriet's eyes widened.

"Oh my god."  
"Did you win the election?"  
"Landslide majority." Harriet told him, now smiling just as widely as he was.

"If I might interrupt!" The Leader said, making Lucia jump, having completely forgotten the situation they were in.

"Yes! Sorry! Hello, big fella!" The Doctor said as he walked back over to him.

"Who exactly are you?"  
"Well. That's the question."

"I demand to know who you are!"

"I DON'T KNOW!" The Doctor roared back. "See, there's the thing. I'm the Doctor, but beyond that, I- I just don't know. I literally do not know who I am. It's all untested. Am I funny? Am I sarcastic? Sexy?" at this he winked at Rose, who smiled rather pleased by that. "Right old misery? Life and soul? Right-handed? Left handed? A gambler? A fighter? A coward? A traiter? A liar? A nervous wreck? I mean, according to my good friend Lucia, I've certainly got a gob." He smiled at Lucia who laughed quietly, not wanting to interrupt his speech. The Doctor caught sight of the big button and smiled even wider. "And how am I gonna react when I see this? A great, big, threatening button." He ran up the steps until he was standing right next to it while everyone else, human and Sycorax alike, followed. "A Great Big Threatening Button Which Must Not Be Pressed Under Any Circumstances. Am I right?" the Leader made no effort to reply, but his eyes were narrowed as he stared at him. "Let me guess, it's some sort of control matrix? Hmm? Hold on, what's feeding it?" he bent down and pulled open a small door to see underneath, to see a small bowl of red liquid. "What have you got here? Blood?" he dipped his finger in it and tasted it. Even Lucia had to pull a face at that. "Yeah, definitely. Blood. Human blood. A Positive. With just a dash of iron. Ah, that means... Blood control!" He exclaimed, delighted. "Oh, I haven't seen blood control in years! You're controlling the A Positives. Which leaves us with a great big stinking problem. 'Cos... I really don't know who I am. I don't know when to stop. So if I see a Great Big Threatening Button Which Should Never Ever Be Pressed... then I just want to do this!" He wacked his hand down on the button hard and everyone yelled out, "No!"

"You killed them!" Alex gaped. Lucia frowned, the Doctor wouldn't do that; atleast, the one from the memories the TARDIS had given her would do that. There had to be something she was missing...

The Doctor continued smiling. "What do you think, big fella? Are they dead?"  
"We allow them to live." The Leader scowled, and everyone relaxed.

"Allow?" the Doctor scoffed. "You've no choice! I mean, that's all blood control is. Cheap bit of voodoo. Scares the pants of you, but that's as far as it goes. It's like hypnosis - you can hypnotise someone to walk like a chicken and sing like Elvis, you can't hypnotise them to death. Survival instinct's too strong."  
"Well, there's a relief." Lucia said dryly.  
"Blood control was one form of conquest." The Leader said dismissively. "I can summon the armada and take the world by force."  
"Well, yeah, you could. Yeah, you could do that, ofcourse you could. But why? Look at these humans. These human beings. Consider their potential. From the day they arrive on the planet and blinking, step into the sun. There's more to see than can ever be seen. More to do - no, hold," he paused, shaking his head. "Sorry, that's the 'Lion King'. But the point still stands. Leave them alone!"  
"Or what?"

"Or..." the Doctor trailed off, grabbing a sword from one of the Sycorax guarding the group before running back down closer to the TARDIS, holding the sword up in the air. "I challenge you!" He bellowed. The Leader and the rest of the Sycorax burst out laughing. "Oh, that struck a chord. Am I right that the sanctified rules of combat still apply?"  
The Leader made his way down the steps to the Doctor. "You stand as this worlds champion."  
"Thank you. I've no idea who I am, but you just summed me up." He shrugged off Howards dressing gown and threw it over to Rose. "So, you accept my challenge? Or are you just a cranak pel casacree salvak?"

The Leader hissed as Mickey turned to Lucia. "Do you have a clue what he just said?" he whispered, watching as the two of them got ready to fight.

"Yeah but I'd rather not repeat it, if you don't mind." Lucia whispered back as the Leader and the Doctor knelt by their swords.

"For the planet." The Leader muttered.

"For the planet." The Doctor agreed. They both stood up, staring at each other for a moment before running at each other and beginning to fight. Lucia and Rose, despite their differences, were both watching anxiously as the fight went on. Both nearly having panic attacks when the Doctor was almost hit by the Leaders sword.

"Look out!" Rose yelled.

"Be careful!" Lucia yelled out at the same time.

The Doctor rolled his eyes at them. "Oh, yeah, that helped. Wouldn't have thought of that overwise, thanks." He said sarcastically as he led the fight up the stairs, hitting a button to open a door. "Bit of fresh air?"

The fight went on to a platform outside the spaceship, the rest of the group followed them out along with a few of the Sycorax guards while the rest of them stayed inside, confident that they were going to win.

The Leader suddenly hit the Doctor in the nose. "Oi!" Lucia snapped, about to rush over to check on the Doctor only to be stopped by Mickey, who held onto her tightly.

"Stay back!" The Doctor held up a hand, even though she was no longer moving. "Invalidate the challenge and he wins the planet."

The Leader and the Doctor ran at each other again, clashing their swords together but the Doctor was thrown backwards to the ground. The Leader, taking advantage of this, slashed his sword down, cutting off the Doctor's hand. The hand, which had been holding the sword, fell over the edge of the spaceship and to Earth. The group stared in horror, sure that the Doctor was going to lose now while Lucia winced but wasn't overly concerned, knowing what would happen next.

The Doctor looked down at his arm before looking up at the Sycorax leader, both stunned and annoyed. "You cut my hand off."  
"YAH! Sycoax!" The Leader cheered as the Doctor got to his feet.

"And now I know what kind of man I am. I'm lucky. 'Cos quite by chance, I'm still within the first fifteen hours of my regeration cycle. Which means I've got just enough residual energy... to do this." He held up his stump of an arm and everyone watched in amazement as the hand that had just been cut off, grew back.

"Witchcraft." The Leader breathed.

"Time Lord." The Doctor corrected.

"Doctor!" Rose yelled and he spun around to catch the sword she'd just stolen from one of the other guards. Lucia frowned, these guards obviously weren't that good if they kept having their weapons stolen.

"Oh, I'm still the Doctor, then?"

"No argument from me!"

"Wanna know the best bit. This new hand... it's a fightin' hand!" The Doctor told the Leader, putting on a Texan accent for the last bit before the fight commenced once more. After a while of them just clashing swords, the Doctor jabs the Leader in the stomache with the handle of his sword. The Leader groaned but didn't back down... that is, until the Doctor did the same thing after, twice. The Sycorax Leader fell to the floor and the Doctor pointed his sword at his throat.

"I win."

"Then kill me." The Leader gasped out.

"I'll spare your life if you'll take this champions command: leave this planet, and never return." The Doctor said slowly, deadly serious for the first time since he woke up. "What do you say?"  
The Leader hesitated. "Yes."  
The Doctor jabbed his sword closer. "Swear on the blood of your species." He ordered through his teeth.

The Leader hesitated again, glaring up at the Doctor. "I swear."

The Doctor instantly changed, relaxing as he moved his sword away. "There we are then. Thanks for that. Cheers, big fella." He jabbed his sword into the ground and turned back to the group with his grin back in place.

"Bravo!" Harriet clapped.

Rose rushed forward, while Lucia watched smiling from her place next to Mickey. "That says it all. Bravo!"

"Yeah! Not bad for a man in his jim-jams!" The Doctor said lightly as Rose helped him into Howards dressing gown. "Very Arthur Dent. Now, there's a nice man. Hold on, what have I got here?" he reached into the pocket and pulled out a satsuma, making Rose, Lucia and Mickey laugh. "A satsuma. Ah, that friend of your mothers - he does like his snacks doesn't he? But doesn't that sum up Christmas?" the Doctor rambled as they began to walk towards the door, the Doctor throwing the satsuma in the air and catching it. "You go through all those presents and right at the end, tucked away at the bottom, there's always one stupid old satsuma. Who wants a satsuma?"

Lucia looked behind them and froze when she saw that the Sycorax leader had got back up and was running towards the Doctor with a sword. She opened her mouth to shout out but didn't have a chance when the Doctor, without looking around, threw the satsuma at a switch on the side of the ship. The ground beneath the Leader opened and he fell to the ground screaming.

"No second chances." The Doctor said, suddenly serious again. "I'm that sort of a man." The Doctor, Lucia and the rest of the group walked back into the ship, stopping in front of the TARDIS when the Doctor turned to face the rest of the Sycorax, who were silent.

"By the ancient rites of combat, I forbid you to scavenge here for the rest of time. And when go you back to the stars and tell others of this planet... when you tell them of its riches - its people - its potential. When you talk of the Earth, then make sure that you tell them this: It - is - defended." The Doctor said firmly before they were teleported back to Earth.

Rose looked around confused. "Where are we?" she asked.

"We're just off Bloxom Road. We're just round the corner, we did it!" Mickey cheered, jumping up and down with glee.

The Doctor held up a hand, his eyes on the spaceship. "Wait a minute... wait a minute..." The ship slowly turned, flying back into the sky and the Doctor grinned.

Mickey took this a hint to start jumping again. "Go on, my son! Oh yeah!"

"Yeah! Don't come back!" Rose yelled, jumping onto Mickey's back.

"It is defended!"

Lucia, who had been watching Rose and Mickey with amusement, almost jumped when she felt someone beside her. She turned to see the Doctor smiling down at her. "So, how're you holding up now?" he asked and Lucia smiled back.

"Much better." She told him. And she was. With the Doctor here she was a lot more relaxed, it was better with him around. The Doctor grinned widely and pulled her into his arms, not letting go of her as he led her towards Harriet Jones.

Harriet raised her arms, grinning. "My Doctor."  
"Prime Minister." The Doctor threw back, finally letting go of Lucia to hug the woman.

"Absolutely the same man." Harriet told him, making him beam before they looked up at the sky. "Are there many more out there?"  
"Loads of them." Lucia piped up. "More species. Thousands even."

"And the human race is drawing attention to itself. Every day your sending out probes and messages and signals - this planet's so noisy. You're getting noticed. More and more." The Doctor continued, looking down at her. "You'd better get used to it."

Lucia studied the Prime Minister, noticing that the woman looked FAR from happy at that but didn't say anything, because at that moment Jackie Tyler came running down the street towards them.

"Rose!" She shouted.

"Mum!" Rose yelled back, running over to meet her with Mickey.

"Oh! Talking of trouble..." the Doctor trailed off as he and Lucia turned away from Harriet. Lucia walked over to them while the Doctor just stood, watching.

"Oh my god! You did it!" Jackie said happily.

"You did it too!" Rose said, practically bouncing with happiness. "It was the tea! Fixed his head!"  
The Doctor put his hands in the pockets of the dressing gown, finally empty of any fruit. "That's all I needed - cup o' tea."

"I said so!"

Lucia mockingly frowned at her. "Er, I think you'll find I did." Which was true. Jackie just chuckled, rolling her eyes at her.

"Look at him!" Rose nodded to the Doctor, a little less happy now she remembered who was still there.

"Is it him, though? Is it really the Doctor?" Jackie asked, eyeing the Doctor causiously before her eyes widened when she looked behind him. "Oh, my god! It's the bleeding Prime Minister!"

The Doctor laughed. "Come here, you." He held open his arms for Jackie, who practically threw herself into them. Rose, Mickey and Lucia poined them for a group hug.

"Aw... are you better?" Jackie asked, surprising the Doctor by actually sounding concerned about him.

"I am, yeah!"

The Doctor, Rose, Mickey and Jackie chatted happily between themself while Lucia's attention went back to Harriet Jones and her assistant. "I have a message from Torchwood." Alex told her. "They say they're ready."

"You left me!" Jackie shouted suddenly, bringing Lucia back to the group.

"Sorry Jackie." Lucia told the woman softly.

"I had all the food!"  
Lucia winced, remembering how heavy all of those bags were. "I'm really sorry." She said, sounding so sincere that Jackie laughed, pulling Lucia into her arms and rubbing her back. When they pulled away, Lucia looked back at Harriet to see her looking solemn, staring up at the sky.

The entire group jumped when a beam of light, shot loudly from a building near by. Followed by another, and another, and then two more. All of the beams met in the middle, shooting up into space.

"What is that?" Rose gasped, staring in horror at the large explosion. "What's happening?"

Lucia looked away from it, her eyes going straight to the Doctor who was staring at Harriet as if he'd never seen her before. "That was murder." He said angrily, and Lucia moved so that she was next to him.

"That was defence." Harriet protested. "It's adapted from alien technology. A ship that fell to Earth ten years ago."  
"They were leaving." Lucia reminded her. "They were going. They weren't a threat."

"They'd go back to the stars and tell others about Earth. I'm sorry, Doctor, but your not here all the time. You come and go. It happened today - Mr Llewellyn and the Major. They were murdered. They died right in front of me while you were sleeping. In which case, we have to defend ourselves."  
"Britain's Golden Age." The Doctor sneered.

"It comes with a price."

"I gave them the wrong warning. I should've told them to run - as fast as they can. Run and hide because the monsters are coming: the human race!" The Doctor spat out and Harriet's eyes narrowed.

"Those are the people I represent. I did it on their behalf."

"No, you didn't." Lucia disagreed softly. "You did it because you wanted to be seen as a good leader. You wanted the world to see you as a protector, someone who will get rid of the 'monsters' and make sure they never come back."

"And we should've stopped you." The Doctor said quietly.

Harriet glared at the two of them. "And what does that make you? Another alien threat?"

The Doctor took a step towards her while Lucia stayed where she was, watching quietly. "Don't challenge me, Harriet Jones. 'Cos I'm a completely new man. I could take down your Government with a single word."

Harriet smiled, almost mockingly. "You're the most remarkable man I've ever met. But I don't think you're quite capable of that."

"I would say it's more like six words." Lucia said.

The Doctor studied Lucia silently for a few moments before turning back to Harriet. "She's right. Six words."  
"I don't think so." Harriet shook her head but she looked between the two of them aprehensively.

"Six words."  
"Stop it!"  
"Six." The two of them stared at each other: the Doctor's expression completely blank while Harriet's confidence seemed to be disappearing. The rest of the group watching silently, unable to take their eyes off what was happening. The Doctor, his eyes still on Harriet, walked around her over to Alex. He took Alex's ear piece off and put it in the young man's hand. "Don't you think she looks tired." He whispered into his ear before walking away.

He walked away from Harriet, ignoring her alarmed expression, grabbing Lucia's hand as he passed and walking down the street Jackie had arrived from.

Harriet ran over to the confused Alex. "What did he say?" she demanded urgently.

"Oh, uh - nothing, really - "  
"What did he say?!"  
"I - nothing! I don't know!"  
Harriet moved away from her, staring after the retreating group. "Doctor! Doctor, what did you - what was... what did he say?! What did you say, Doctor? Doctor?!"  
The Doctor ignored her along with the group following, with the exception of one. Rose glanced over her shoulder at the Prime Minister sadly but didn't stop walking.

...

Lucia looked around the console, wrapping her new jacket closer around herself as the TARDIS hummed softly.

"What do you think?" a voice called from behind her and she looked around to see the Doctor standing by the door, wearing a brown, pin striped suit with red converses and a brown trench coat.

Lucia smiled. "Suits you." She told him before sitting down on the pilot's seat. The Doctor walked over and sat next to her, watching her - something he seemed to do alot. "What?" she asked after a few moments of silence.

"Who are you?" he asked, staring at her intently.

Lucia sighed. This was the moment she had been dreading. She knew the Doctor had been hoping that she was a proper Time Lady, one that had survived the war along with him. Perhaps even pulled through the time vortex by the TARDIS in order to save him. Possibly, when he first found out she had two hearts, he'd even hoped that she was someone he knew. Would he reject her if he knew the truth? "My name's Lucia and I was created by the TARDIS using the Time Vortex." She looked at him, hurt that she caught the disappointment in her eyes before he quickly hid it. "I was made for nothing more than to save your life and die in the process."

It probably would've been better if she'd died. Would the Doctor leave her on Earth now he knew the truth? She doubted he would want her round as much as he would've had she been born on Gallifrey.

The Doctor frowned. If the TARDIS had created her for that reason, why had she made Lucia a Time Lady. If she was created to die, why hadn't she just created a human. He looked at the console as the TARDIS hummed again before glancing at Lucia. Had the TARDIS created her so that the Doctor wouldn't be lonely? Lucia, despite what the Time Lords would've thought, was still a Time Lady. She would still be able to regenerate, she would always be there with him. _For _him. After all those years of being alone, did it really matter how Lucia was here?

Without saying a word, he pulled Lucia towards him and wrapped his arms around her. Lucia stiffened, blinking back the tears threatening to fall. She wrapped her arms around him, hugging him back tightly.

The Doctor pulled back after a long while and smiled at her. "Come on, Jackie's made Christmas dinner." He stood up, holding out a hand for her to take.

"Erm, yeah. Not really my thing." Lucia said, standing up but moving around the console, looking at certain bit and bobs. "I think I'll stay in here."  
"On your own?"

Lucia forced a smile. "Peace and quiet. Just what I need."

"I could stay with you." The Doctor offered but Lucia shook her head.

"Peace and quiet, I don't think I'd get either with you around."

The Doctor rolled his eyes. "Fair enough." He turned and walked out of the doors, leaving Lucia alone.

Lucia spent the next few hours bored out of her mind, trying her best to distract herself. She'd read an entire book series, fixed the chameleon circuit and then broke it again (she rather liked the TARDIS looking like a police box) and watched the Christmas special of Eastenders. But after all that, she still found herself wandering around the console room trying to think of more things to do.

_You do realise that there's more than just the console room, right? _She heard a female voice say. Her head whipped around as she tried to search for the mysterious person... but she was the only one there. The strange thing was, she recognised the voice. It was the same voice she heard when she was created. Her eyes widened as she realised who was speaking to her.

_Took you a while, _the TARDIS laughed, _I thought I made you smart._

Lucia hesitated before replying. "Yes, well, it's not everyday that a ship, who just happens to be your mother, starts speaking to you." This made the TARDIS laugh even more, Lucia joining in.

_So, how have you found your first day of life? _

"Oh, you know. Not so bad." Lucia tried to say but knew she was fooling no one. "It could've been worse."

_In what way?_

"The Doctor could've died.

_You could've done aswell._

Lucia rolled her eyes. "Yes, but I'm nowhere near as important."

The TARDIS hummed once more, this time angrily. _You are every bit as important as the Doctor!_ Lucia scoffed but decided not to argue. She knew the truth.

They stayed silent for a long while before Lucia stroked the console softly. "Thank you." She whispered. "Thank you for giving me a life. I'm just happy that I got a chance to talk to you before I left."

_Left? Where are you planning on going exactly?_

Lucia frowned. The way the Doctor had been acting, wanting her to experience a human christmas, hugging her goodbye... it was obvious that he was planning on leaving her on Earth to have a normal life. "I don't know. Anywhere I guess."

_You're staying here. _The TARDIS said, so sure that Lucia almost dared to believe her.

"It will be better if I left."

_Why?!_

Lucia sighed, blinking away the tears. "I won't get in anyone's way."

Suddenly, the doors swung open, letting the cold air in. Lucia waited for the TARDIS to explain but all was silent, except for the voices outside. "Okay, I can take a hint."

She walked towards the open door and almost ran in the other direction when she saw the Doctor and Rose talking with Jackie and Mickey stood a few feet behind them, completely oblivious to the fact that the doors had just opened on their own.

"This is a brand new planet Earth." The Doctor said, looking at the sky. "No denying the existence of aliens now, everyone saw it. Everything's new."

"And what about you? What are you gonna do next?" Rose asked, avoiding his eyes as Lucia stepped out of the TARDIS, seeing this as her time to leave.

The Doctor glanced over his shoulder at the girl and smiled, before shugging at Rose's question. "Well... back to the TARDIS, same old life."

Rose had noticed Lucia as well and began to get nervous. "On your own?" she asked, her eyes darting between the Doctor and Lucia.

"Why, don't you want to come?" the Doctor frowned.

"Well, yeah."  
"Do you, though?"  
"Yeah!"

"I just thought... 'cos I changed - "  
"Yeah, I thought..." Rose began, glancing at Lucia once more before settling on the Doctor. "'Cos you changed... you might not want me anymore."  
"Oh, I'd love you to come!"  
"Okay!"

The two of them beamed to each other before the Doctor let out a big sigh. "The three of us then." He said happily, making Rose's smile falter and Lucia frown. The three of them? Was Mickey going? Or did he actually mean...

"The three of you?" she blurted out, making everyone turn to look at each other.

"Yeah," the Doctor raised an eyebrow. "The three of _us_."

Lucia stared at him blankly for a moment, trying to understand what he was saying, before her eyes widened. "You're taking me with you?"

The Doctor stared at her as if she was an idiot. "Of course."

Without thinking, Lucia threw herself into his arms and held onto him tightly, both of them laughing. "But I thought you wouldn't want me," she said, once they pulled away. "Because I wasn't - "

"Doesn't matter." The Doctor cut her off quickly, making her think that it did matter more than he was letting on, but she wasn't sure since he still had the huge smile on his face.

She beamed back at him. "Okay."

"Right then," Rose said, looking far from happy but plastering a smile on her face when the Doctor turned to look at her, his arm firmly around Lucia's shoulder. "The three of us." For now, she thought to herself.

"You're never gonna stay, are you?" Mickey asked quietly.

"There's just so much out there. So much to see... I've got to." Rose told him softly.

"Yes." Mickey agreed, with an obvious fake smile. Lucia bit her lip, wanting more than anything to suggest that Mickey came with them. It would probably be more fun with him there, she got on with him alot more than she did Rose. But it wasn't her place.

"Well, I reckon you're mad." Jackie said loudly, trying to break through any tension. "All of you. It's like you go looking for trouble."  
The Doctor let go of Lucia and made his way over to Jackie. "Trouble's just the bit's in between." He said, putting on arm around the woman as he looked up at the sky. "It's all waiting out there, Jackie. It's brand new to me. All those planets... creatures and horizons... I haven't seen them yet. Not with these eyes." He let her go and walked back to where he'd been before, taking Lucia's hand as he smiled down at Rose. "And it is gonna be... fantastic."  
Rose smiled at the familiar word while the Doctor held out his hand. "That hand of yours still gives me the creeps." She admitted but he didn't move his hand away. Instead his wriggled his fingers persistently and, after a moment, she took it.

"So, where first?" Lucia asked.  
"Um... that way. No, hold on... that way." He said, pointing to the sky with the hand that was holding Rose's.

"That way." Rose pointed to the sky.

"Hmm."

She nodded. "Yeah, that way." The Doctor chuckled, wrapping his arm around Lucia and pulling her closer again. She smiled up at him before looking down, almost flinching when she saw Rose glaring at her from the other side of the Doctor.

AN - So, what did you guys think?

In case you didn't quite get the whole Lucia thing - she was created solely from the time vortex. She _is _real but it's more like the situation with Jenny. I think the Doctor was more guarded after Rose left and couldn't afford to let anyone else in, which is why he's more welcoming to Lucia in this fic. Whether or not he see's her as 'real' we'll have to wait and see.

Please review and let me know what you're thinking :) Next up... New Earth!


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